Progress
'' |image= |series= |production=40511-415 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Peter Allan Fields |director=Les Landau |imdbref=tt0708584 |guests=Aron Eisenberg as Nog, Brian Keith as Mullibok, Nicholas Worth as Alien Captain, Michael Bofshever as Toran, Terrence Evans as Baltrim, Annie O'Donnell as Keena |previous_production=The Storyteller |next_production=If Wishes Were Horses |episode=DS9 S01E14 |airdate=9 May 1993 |previous_release=The Storyteller |next_release=If Wishes Were Horses |story_date(s)=46844.3 (2369) |previous_story=(DS9) The Storyteller (Overall) Suspicions |next_story=(DS9) If Wishes Were Horses (Overall) Rightful Heir }} =Summary= With the Federation's help, Bajor plans to tap the core of one of its moons to provide much-needed electricity. A side effect of the process is that it releases gases lethal to humanoids, so the moon's inhabitants have been evacuated. Several life forms have been detected after the evacuation date, so Kira visits the moon to investigate. She finds an elderly man and his two mute farmhands, who are intent on staying. The man, Mullibok, persistently avoids the topic of evacuation — he invites Kira to a farewell dinner before revealing it will take three hours to prepare. Despite (or perhaps because of) his stubbornness, Kira grows fond of him. He tells her he plans to die on the moon, and over dinner describes how he escaped to the moon during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. During the course of their conversation, Mullibok tricks Kira into admitting that the Bajorans beat the Cardassians because they "hung on like fanatics," drawing a parallel between their struggle and his. Returning to Deep Space Nine, Kira reports her findings to Sisko and to Minister Toran, who is overseeing the project. She tells them of Mullibok, and Minister Toran pronounces the man will have to be beamed off the planet. After comparing such behavior to that of the Cardassians, Kira realizes she has stepped out of line and simultaneously revealed her feelings toward Mullibok. Toran orders her to remove Mullibok and sends her back to the moon, along with two security guards. As the guards go to find the farmhands, Kira attempts to reason with Mullibok. She tells him she is doing what has to be done, to which he responds, "me too" and goes inside, shutting the door behind him. He reemerges with some tools and goes about finishing a kiln he has been building, while Kira talks. The guards emerge from a nearby cornfield dragging the reluctant farmhands. Mullibok becomes furious and jumps one of the guards. The other shoots him. Bashir travels to the moon to treat Mullibok's wound, and the farmhands are evacuated to Bajor. When he awakens, Mullibok tells Kira she is backward for not evacuating him while he was unconscious, and resumes his stubborn attitude. Bashir wants to forcibly remove the farmer but Kira orders him back to the station. There, Sisko, knowing Toran will be furious, recommends that Bashir report that Kira will remain on the moon for several more days for humanitarian reasons, at Bashir's recommendation; the doctor duly does this. In a parallel story, Jake Sisko and Nog acquire surplus yammok from Quark. Yammok sauce, a favorite condiment of the Cardassians, has been selling slowly since the end of the Occupation. Seeking hard currency, the two make a succession of trades, eventually ending up with a strip of land on Bajor. When they overhear that the government is trying to secure the land for a building project, the pair offer it to Quark for five bars of gold-pressed latinum. Back on the moon, Kira continues to bond with Mullibok and is surprised by a communication from Sisko, informing her that he is about to beam down. He arrives outside the cottage and is met at the door by Mullibok, who says neither he nor Kira wish to speak with him. Speaking to Kira outside, Sisko tells her he has come to like her and does not want to break in a new liaison officer. The two talk as Kira works on Mullibok's kiln, and she comes to realize that after years of fighting for the underdog she is now working for the other side. Much as she wants to continue her job, she cannot bring herself to evacuate Mullibok. Before leaving, Sisko tells Kira that a runabout will be standing by in orbit, and ominously warns that, while Mullibok's fate has already been decided, hers has not. After a night spent caring for Mullibok, Kira awakens to find him putting the final touches on his kiln. He fires it up, at which point Kira tells him he has finished his work and she must finish hers. As long as his cottage stands, Mullibok says, he will remain on the moon. Kira destroys the kiln with her phaser and, lighting a piece of wood as a torch, sets the cottage ablaze. Mullibok claims Kira has chosen her uniform over him and requests her, as a friend, to shoot him. She refuses, and he again declares that he will die if he leaves. "I won't let you," Kira says, and calls the runabout for "Two to beam up." Progress (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # Bajor tapping the core of a moon, instead of using Federation supplied fusion reactors. The Bajorans obviously want to be self sufficent regarding their energy supply. # Quark being unable to unload the yamok sauce until Nog offers to dispose of it. 1) The Cardassians probably avoid DS9 after Gul Dukat’s withdraw order and the end of Emissary. 2) It probably doesn’t have a long shelf life! Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Sunday, September 10, 2000 - 1:45 am: Why doesn't Bajor just use the geothermal energy of Bajor? That might not be possible due to the potential of tectonic instability. # Okay, Bajor has 5 moons and the one moon they plan to use as a battery just happens to be M Class. Does this mean that all the moons are M Class? If there are moons which are not M Class, why not use one of them for the battery instead of ruining a perfectly good place to live? Those moons may not be suitable as an energy source. # So why didn't the Cardassians colonize this moon when they took over the planet? Maybe they didn’t consider it worthwhile. # John A. Lang on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 - 7:42 am: Say...why DIDN'T Kira beam up Mulubock when he was unconscious? Just so she can burn down his house? Mike Nuss on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 7:41 pm: She felt guilty, and she wasn't ready yet. It was only after Sisko gave her advice that she made up her mind. # D.K. Henderson on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 6:52 am: Looks like Nog still has a lot to learn. He shouldn't have offered his uncle a flat rate to negotiate with the Bajorans until he learned just how much they were willing to pay. He basically sold the opportunity for 5 bars of gold-pressed latinum--what if Quark was able to sell the land for 15, 20, 30 bars? It would have been nice if they had had time to show Nog and Jake discussing their business venture with Quark. I'm sure that Quark would have been impressed with his nephew's "lobes". John-Boy on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 3:44 pm: I doubt it, Quark probably would have just wanted on in the profits. Brian FitzGerald on Sunday, August 26, 2007 - 4:02 pm: I agree, but that was the point, they are just boys who were perfectly happy with 5 bars, when they could have gotten more. =Notes= Category:EpisodesCategory:Deep Space Nine